BIO

Have you ever been doing something for so long that it gets stale and boring and you just want a change? Then by some twisted chain of events you end up somewhere else, doing something that you never would have imagined you would be doing?
My career in photography began exactly like that when I blew the motor of a new $250,000 Ferrari F430 on Rt. 95 on the NY/ CT border. Up until that point I had spent well over a decade working in the automotive field as a technician for Porsche, Lotus, Maserati, Ferrari, and also had my own machine shop business building race engines. I was out on a test drive in a customer's car after doing a minor repair it had come into the shop for. But that day, on that test drive, traveling at a speed i would rather not disclose, a $1 gasket failed allowing all of the engine's oil to pour out while running at roughly 7,000 RPM. So there I was, screaming down the highway in a bright red Ferrari flying past cars like they were standing still, all the while with engine oil and flames pouring out of the back. Who would have noticed?.... the motor sits in the back of those cars. Suddenly the engine pitch changed from the sound only a Ferrari can make to something awful and ugly. The motor seized and the entire rear half of the car was saturated with oil, smoke, and engine parts. Everything changed from that point onward. As I was leaning against the guardrail on the side of the highway awaiting the flatbed to pick myself and the carnage up, I certainly would never have thought that less than a year later I would be a professional photographer. That mishap led to losing my position at Ferrari, and packing up my toolboxes and belongings and moving back to where I was originally from just outside of NYC in New Jersey. Needless to say, I had left my career in the automotive world with a bang.
After settling back in I began to reassess and look at where I would like my life to go next. To pass the time I would travel around with an old point and shoot camera and take pictures of various things that caught my eye. After encouragement from some family and friends who saw the images, I walked into a gallery one day to try and get some idea as to what it took to become a photographer on a professional level. I was laughed at by the owner, so I thanked her and left a disc with a number of images I had shot on it, thinking I would not be hearing from them again. About three weeks later I received a phone call from the gallery saying they finally took a look at my work and they would like me to come in to review it. They began asking me questions on the images about how, where, and why I shot it. All I could do was shrug and say "I just did it, I dunno". Less than a week after that I received a follow up call saying that they had taken the liberty of sharing my work with some colleagues and that they would like to exhibit a number of my prints.
It was at that point that I felt I should seriously pursue this, so I set out to buy a good camera and equip myself with the best gear I could afford, not knowing how to use any of it. I still remember sitting on the curb outside of the camera store feeling like I was going to be sick after spending a small fortune, and asking myself "What am I doing?" I had my first job offer come in and I had to lie in terms of my experience in order to get it. I remember saying to the client "Sure I shoot that kind of stuff all the time" then ran home and googled it. The client was so happy with the outcome that it led to another job, and it gained momentum from there. I would take anything that came my way, I just wanted to shoot. My goal was simple, wear out my cameras and grow. That was back in 2006 and those first few jobs led to experience, which led to confidence, then to refinement, and now to the images you see on these pages.
I truly love what I do and feel like the possibilities are limitless. I enjoy the diversity and challenge of working with people and clients to deliver the best possible image that has an impact. Whether it's shooting people, product, lifestyle, architecture, aerial, editorial or commercial, I thrive on doing something new and cementing what I see in my mind into an image for others to share.
The images speak for themselves.
Garibaldi Photography Blog